Fishermen’s support in oil spill response

While responding to a marine pollution event, responders have to resort to prompt and efficient methods to limit the spread of the pollutant at the earliest stage possible. However, they can face insufficient or even a complete lack of specific response means usable suitable to, amongst others, the environmental conditions, the location of the pollution, and the pollutant’s properties and evolution: as a result, all means available must be considered and deployed to limit its spread of the pollution and preventing its reaching the coast. As a consequence, local sea professionals, their vessels and gear can then be called upon to respond efficiently and promptly to marine pollution.

The comprehensive package on Role of Fishermen provides the required managerial and communication tools to train and supervise volunteer fishermen for their implication in at sea coastal response operations (coastline survey, deployment of booms, recovery of oil, logistical support for response on islands, waste transfer, sampling…).

The Involvement of Sea Professionals during an Accidental Oil Spill manual has already been published in French language in the format of Cedre operational guides: to ensure the harmonisation of the package, the content will be complemented, translated in English and the design will be adjusted to POSOW template.